Man fatally stabbed by Palestinian in West Bank

09/16/2018

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Israeli forensic policemen inspect the site where an Israeli man was fatally stabbed by a Palestinian near a mall at the Gush Etzion junction near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank on September 16, 2018

A Palestinian fatally stabbed an Israeli man near the entrance to a mall in the occupied West Bank on Sunday before being shot by a civilian, officials said.

No details were immediately provided on the identity of the Israeli, whose death was confirmed in a statement from Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek medical centre.

Israeli media reported that he was 40.

Official Palestinian news agency WAFA described the attacker as a "young man" from the West Bank village of Yatta.

It said he was not severely wounded.

The incident took place at the Gush Etzion Junction south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, according to Israel's military, which provided the details of the stabbing.

Video footage shared on social media purportedly showed the assailant approaching an older man near the mall entrance and stabbing him.

He is then pursued by civilians and shot nearby.

There is regular friction between Israelis and Palestinians at the junction, which lies near a major Israeli settlement bloc and has been the site of numerous attacks.

A wave of Palestinian knife attacks against Israelis broke out in 2015, but they have since become sporadic.

On September 3, a Palestinian wielding a knife approached an Israeli military checkpoint near the hardline Kiryat Arba settlement in the Hebron area and was shot dead by soldiers, according to the army.

There are concerns that tensions between Israelis and Palestinians will increase this month as Jews celebrate their high holidays and pay more visits to holy sites.